Estes Park economy needs to diversify

Flooding showed just how vulnerable the tourist economy is to disaster

By David Persons

Trail-Gazette

Posted:
03/14/2014 10:03:58 AM MDT

The inset is outside of Kind Coffee on last Friday, Sept. 13, and this Wednesday morning as the new interior after $70,000 worth of restoration. This week marks six months since the devastating floods that hit Estes Park and much of the northern Front Range. The flooding showed how vulnerable the Estes tourists economy is to disaster. (Walt Hester / Trail-Gazette)

Feb. 2012 - Greg Rosener, Charlie Dickey reach out to the Estes Valley Partners for Commerce (EVPC) Board of Directors and ask it to take a leadership role.

Mar. 2012 - Partners for Commerce members are polled, then confirm their support.

Apr. 2012 - The Partners of Commerce Board of Directors approves the formation of an economic development task force and charges it with creating a framework for a valley-wide economic development organization.

June 5, 2012 - The Estes Valley Economic Development Task Force held its first meeting. Its founding members included Greg Rosener, Charley Dickey, Jim Pickering, Jon Nicholas, Lowell Richardson, Elizabeth Fogarty, Peggy Campbell, Paul Mueller, Jerry Miller, Ron Norris, and Julie Phares. Norris was appointed as liaison to the Estes Park Board of Trustees; Julie Phares was appointed as liaison to the Partners for Commerce Board of Directors. The task force established a core mission statement: "The goal of the EVPC Economic Development Task Force is to establish a group that can lead and promote economic development in the Estes Valley."

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Dec. 2012 - The task force released a draft document called: The Estes Valley's Economic Future: The Path Forward. It contained both the findings of the Task Force over the previous eight months and a strategic action plan to establish a group that can lead and promote economic development in the Estes Valley.

Feb. 2013 - A community assessment was conducted by Downtown Colorado, Inc., a Denver-based, non-profit organizations.

Mar.-June, 2013 - Finalization of the Community Assessment created by Downtown Colorado, Inc.; the completion of over 40 scheduled meetings with area tax entities, organizations and individual business people; the finalization of the structure of the Estes Valley Economic Development Council.

Aug. 2013 - the Estes Park Economic Development Corporation is created and Jon Nicholas is named Interim President/CEO.

Editor's note: This the last in a series taking a close look at our current economy and finding out what's wrong, what's right, what needs to be addressed, and what our future could look like if we don't take steps to improve it.

The Estes Park economy needs retooling, certainly some tweaking at the very least, experts believe.

That's because, they say, the economy has become too focused and too dependent on tourism over the years.

That's not necessarily a bad thing. Tourism is a big deal and will likely continue to be a big deal.

Tourism accounted for roughly $187 million in total sales for the town in 2011, of which $154 million was taxable sales, according to an economic study conducted by Summit Economics LLC for Visit Estes Park. In addition, 49 percent of all jobs are tourism-based, by far the largest sector of employment.

But, the elephant in the room for the economy's long-term success is the town's vulnerability to natural events like fires and floods and human-caused events like the shutdown of Rocky Mountain National Park.

This became painfully apparent last year when a devastating three-day flood event in mid-September was followed by a temporary shutdown of the national park by the federal government.

"When the national park shut down, a lot of people went: 'Oh, my god,'" said Estes Park Mayor Bill Pinkham. "The shutdown didn't last forever but business certainly came to a screeching halt. It was almost worse than the flood."

The result of the two events rippled through the community for weeks.

Businesses suffered from both physical damage and a lack of visitors.

Workers in the service industry suffered when businesses closed temporarily, forcing some of them to leave town to find jobs in other communities.

The school district suffered because families leaving town took their children out of school, which hurts the district's ability to get state funding.

The hospital suffered because there were no visitors coming to their facility.

And, on and on.

But, from that despair came some light - and insight.

Some believed this was an OMG moment or turning point, one like others in the past (think 1976 Big Thompson flood and 1982 Lawn Lake flood) that might possibly put the economy on a course to diversification and long-term sustainability.

Read on and see what officials and experts say.

The birth of an idea

"Was it a turning point?" Pinkham said, repeating the question about the impact of the September flood. "Yes, I think so. I think the community, as a whole, is coming together now with the recognition that we need to do something."

In truth, the town already had started to come to grips with its unsustainable economic model many months - even years - before the flood.

Many years ago, Pinkham and other long-time residents became concerned about the local economy's dependence on tourism, a supporting workforce that couldn't make a decent living, an increasing demand on affordable housing, and other changing demographics.

Some of those demographics, coming from the 2010 U.S. Census, revealed that there was a decline of 300 students in K-12 between 2002 and 2010. There also was a 28 percent drop in the number of 35-44 year old population, the prime workforce years.

It truly underscored the need for a more diverse economy, one not so focused on tourism.

Some in the community, people like Greg Rosener and Charlie Dickey, decided in early 2012 that it was finally time to get serious about economic development.

"I think we felt that people had become so enamored with the beauty of the town that it overshadowed and overpowered what was really going," Rosener said. "In reality, it was a false sense of security. The business people understood that. They got it. They saw what the truth was.

"And, the truth was we were resting on laurels that were not sustainable."

Rosener and Dickey approached the board of directors for the Estes Valley Partners for Commerce and got approval and direction to start an economic development council task force. Over the next year and a half, Rosener and the task force met first monthly, then twice monthly, and eventually weekly to put together a plan.

The task force published The Estes Valley's Economic Future: The Path Forward in late 2012. It contained both the findings of the task force over the previous eight months and a strategic action plan.

Following a community assessment process in early 2013, the task force was able to put together a plan of action that resulted in the formation of the Estes Park Economic Development Corporation in August 2013.

It took great effort by the task force to get it done. Despite that, Rosener praised Pinkham for his previous efforts to get people talking about economic development.

"He (Pinkham) and others had been talking about it for ... a long ways back," Rosener said. "For some reason, they just couldn't get it going. Sometimes it was a mixture of the wrong people. Sometimes it was just timing issues. There probably wasn't a core of dedicated people either. That was probably the biggest reason."

The difference between the efforts by Pinkham and others and the effort by Rosener and the task force, he said, was the people "who just wouldn't let go."

The Estes Park Economic Development Corporation is now well represented and meets monthly. It has representatives from the town, Visit Estes Park, the real estate community, various businesses and individuals.

Where's the economic development?

Despite the disruption of the Estes Park Economic Development Corporation's initial meetings by last September's flood, the group has continued to meet and has a lot of projects it is supporting and promoting.

- The town's multi-purpose events center under construction now at the fairgrounds.

- The formation of a creative arts district.

Rosener said all four are key for the diversity of the community.

"The wellness center specifically taps into a whole new market," he said. "It exemplifies all the other things we are talking about - a new market, primary jobs, and so on. It really adds to the pie. It's a new pot of revenue that is not here now. It props up all the drivers of economic development."

Rosener said the wellness center also provides a new revenue stream for the Estes Park Medical Center at a time when it really needs a new source of money.

"The performing arts center is very similar to the wellness center," Rosener said. "I think before this is done, it will be a $20 million project. I'll be shocked if it isn't. It should be equal to the wellness center in terms of capital expenditures."

Rosener said the combination of the wellness center, performing arts center, multi-purpose events center and creative arts district will provide a synergy that will enable "all of them to feed off each other. We've never had venues like this to attract outside people."

Estes Park Town Administrator Frank Lancaster also praised the wellness center and performing arts centers as good examples of what's needed to help the local economy.

"I believe these are both examples of projects that fit the existing strengths and character of the community," Lancaster said. "Both are the types of businesses that can add to the economic and social vitality of Estes Park while reinforcing the character of Estes Park, without altering it.

Pinkham suggests there may be other economic development projects in coming years, such as educational opportunities, a possible call center, environmental-oriented companies, maybe even publishing companies.

If any or all of this occurs, Estes Park Economic Development Interim President/CEO Jon Nicholas believes it will be the result of a collaborative effort.

"This is really about forming partnerships," he said. "It's not about taking the lead, it's about being engaged in the bigger picture - diversity and sustainability.

"It's Economic Development 101. It's all about creating quality year-round jobs, those defined as primary, ones that bring in money from the outside."

Nicholas admitted that some new jobs could fit within the tourism business model, but that won't improve the economy in the long run

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